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This report discusses the proposals to expand a court's authority to award attorneys' fees and costs in certain cases and the proposal to permit a taxpayer to collect damages for negligent collection actions by IRS agents. These provisions are covered in sections 311 and 312 of the House version and in sections 3101 and 3102 of the Senate version.

This report focus on the job training provisions of the House and Senate-passed versions of H.R. 1385.

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This report consists of campaign finance reform with a legal analysis of issue and express advocacy.

This report describes diabetes, current treatment and management, public health impact and cost, innovations in treatment, and federal spending on treatment and research.

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The public agricultural research, education, and extension system is comprised of a nationwide network of federal and state agricultural research laboratories and departments, land grant Colleges of Agriculture, colleges of forestry and veterinary medicine, and the nationwide Cooperative Extension System. Although the basic authority to conduct agricultural research and extension programs is permanent, Congress since 1977 has provided funding authority and policy guidance for USDA's in-house research programs, and for federal support for cooperative research, higher education, and extension programs in the states, through a title contained in omnibus farm legislation. This report discusses specific pieces of such legislation and details certain agricultural and food-related appropriations.

This report describes and analyzes key issues and legislative options related to risk analysis and risk management at EPA and considers the potential impact of proposed legislative approaches on EPA's rule-making process and final regulations. The report describes the history of EPA's use of risk analysis and then summarizes and analyzes issues and legislative proposals for increasing such use. Legislative activities in the 105th Congress are described. A list of selected references and an appendix where key terms are defined conclude the report.

This report provides a side-by-side comparison of H.R. 2621 and S. 2400, as reported, 105th Congress bills that would provide the President with trade negotiating authority and accord certain resulting agreements and implementing bills expedited -- or "fast-track" -- legislative consideration.

Major segments of U.S. agriculture are experiencing declining farm income and financial difficulty. The degree of decline, however, differs among regions and commodities. In 1996, the overall farm sector experienced record high income that declined 6.7% in 1997, and is forecast to decline by another 3.6% in 1998. Several factors are responsible for the recent drop in farm income. Reduced export demand and large global supplies have reduced crop prices

This report discusses the House amendment tree, a chart that depicts the maximum number and types of amendments.

Issue advocacy communications have become increasingly popular over the federal election cycles. Often these advertisements could be interpreted to favor or disfavor certain candidates, while also serving to inform the public about a policy issue. However, unlike communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, the Supreme Court has ruled that issue ads are constitutionally protected First Amendment speech and cannot be regulated.

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A major question that arises in Congress during its considerations of what policies promote and what inhibit the restoration of a healthy economy is the influence that interest rates exert. In particular, are high interest rates a threat to sustained economic recovery?